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I have a MacBook Air late 2014 version and would like to back up my computer before downloading the latest software system. What type of USB port will work and what storage size for the USB is sufficient?
MacBook Air 13″, OS X 10.10
A late 2014 MacBook Air uses a USB-A connector. You can use literally any external hard disk drive of sufficient capacity.
How much is sufficient: Time Machine requires enough space to retain an absolute minimum of one complete, restorable system backup plus sufficient space to finish a subsequent backup consisting of the aggregate amount of information changed from its previous backup, plus an additional amount of "overhead" that is not easily calculated for a number of reasons. Those factors conspire against providing an answer that is both simple and correct for everyone.
Here's what can help you decide: your MBA shipped from Apple with a maximum 512 GB of storage. If you were to use literally all of its capacity (which isn't really possible anyway), an external TM backup drive of 1 TB will be sufficient no matter what you do to fill that Mac to capacity. Considering the fact a 2 TB drive costs only a few dollars more, that's what I recommend getting.
Adding to that recommendation: I advocate having more than just one backup drive for the simple reason that any device can fail at any time. If you do something boneheaded like restoring things the wrong way (which isn't easy, but it happens) you could conceivably wipe out everything you have. So, whatever you decide upon getting make sure it's inexpensive enough to buy at least two of them. SSDs are nice, but speed is not important with Time Machine. Redundancy and simplicity are more important factors.
A late 2014 MacBook Air uses a USB-A connector. You can use literally any external hard disk drive of sufficient capacity.
How much is sufficient: Time Machine requires enough space to retain an absolute minimum of one complete, restorable system backup plus sufficient space to finish a subsequent backup consisting of the aggregate amount of information changed from its previous backup, plus an additional amount of "overhead" that is not easily calculated for a number of reasons. Those factors conspire against providing an answer that is both simple and correct for everyone.
Here's what can help you decide: your MBA shipped from Apple with a maximum 512 GB of storage. If you were to use literally all of its capacity (which isn't really possible anyway), an external TM backup drive of 1 TB will be sufficient no matter what you do to fill that Mac to capacity. Considering the fact a 2 TB drive costs only a few dollars more, that's what I recommend getting.
Adding to that recommendation: I advocate having more than just one backup drive for the simple reason that any device can fail at any time. If you do something boneheaded like restoring things the wrong way (which isn't easy, but it happens) you could conceivably wipe out everything you have. So, whatever you decide upon getting make sure it's inexpensive enough to buy at least two of them. SSDs are nice, but speed is not important with Time Machine. Redundancy and simplicity are more important factors.
Thank you, this is super helpful! you explained it in an easily understandable way. I would like to know your thoughts on the use of flash drives as opposed to the other types of external disk drives. I found a well-priced one on amazon with 2TB of storage. Any insight or thoughts you might offer are appreciated. Thanks!
Flash drives are fine, though their quality can vary all over the place so be sure to consider reviews. Give primary consideration to those from Mac users. If you can't find favorable reviews from Mac users I'd avoid it.
Some flash drives are abysmally slow, slower than rotating hard disk drives. Some have notoriously short lives.
Their prices have been steadily decreasing though, so they're cheap enough to try.
best storage option for back up
